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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Can Aspirin Really Prevent Heart Disease? There is about 2.3 million Britons have Type-2 diabetes that is closely related to the growing levels of overweight and obesity. As compared with the general population, these people can be up to 5 times more likely to develop heart disease. Based on the guidelines recommended by professional health bodies between 2005 and 2008, people aged 50 and above having Type-2 diabetes and those with high blood pressure should take a low dose of aspirin regularly. This is because aspirin has over the years established its role in reducing the risk of repeat heart attack and stroke by up to a third. Interestingly, many healthy middle-aged people also take aspirin regularly, and some even take it on a daily basis hoping this will help them reduce the risk of getting heart attack. So, can aspirin really help these so-called "worried well" people prevent heart disease? It seems that most health professionals do not agree that aspirin is meant for primary prevention, where patients do not have symptoms of heart disease. However, there is yet any research or evidence to support their arguments. On August 30, 2009, a paper presented by British researchers at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona revealed that healthy people taking a daily dose of aspirin to prevent heart attack might not get the benefits they hope for; instead it would be harmful to them. The researchers also found that it almost doubles the risk of being admitted to hospital due to internal bleeding.
Knowing that a small dose of aspirin each day can reduce the risk of further problems for patients with symptoms of artery disease, such as angina, heart attack or stroke, the researchers are happy that their findings agree with their current advice that people who do not have symptomatic or diagnosed artery or heart disease should not take aspirin, since the risks of bleeding may outweigh the benefits. With the help of British Heart Foundation for funding, researchers from the Wolfson Unit for Prevention of Peripheral Vascular Diseases in Edinburgh, Scotland carried out the Aspirin for Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis (AAA) study in Scotland and found that the risks of bleeding from taking aspirin for healthy people outweighs the possible benefits. 29,000 men and women aged between 50 and 75 were screened to see if they had furred arteries in their legs, which means they are at high risk of developing heart disease but do not have symptoms yet. At the end of the screening, 3,350 men and women (more than 3,000 of them were men) were found to have furred arteries. These men and women were randomly divided into 2 groups, with one group receiving a daily 100 mg dose of aspirin while the other group were prescribed with a placebo (a dummy pill). They were monitored for an average of 8 years. The British researchers did not find any difference in the number of heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular disease between the 2 groups. Meanwhile, the deaths from any cause were found to be similar. However, there were 34 (or 2 percent) major bleeds in people in the aspirin group comparing to 20 (or 1.2 percent) in the placebo group. Perhaps, it is time for doctors to review all their patients who took low-dose of aspirin for primary prevention whether doctors prescribed the pills or it was bought over-the-counter by the patients. Nevertheless, doctors should also leave the decision whether to continue or stop taking aspirin to the patients themselves after they are informed of the available evidence. This is because some patients might feel that the small risk of harm is worth taking after considering the small degree of possible benefit they might gain later on.
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